LOUSMIJN VAN DEN AKKER    lousmijn van den akker   fabric development   product development   checks&stripes

This experience set the tone for the rest of my career. Color fore- casting/fabric design and product development in poor countries. 

I started my own fabric and color design studio in Amsterdam in 1987, with designing yarn dyed fabrics for the apparel industry. Winding colored yarns around a piece of cardboard was one of the many ways to visualize fabric designs. It is a simple technique used by shirt weavers all over the world. These so-called ‘windings’ have become my signature color tool, not only for designing fabrics, but also for making color combinations: real colors in real material. This way my studio designed yarn dyed fabric collections for European weaving mills like Boussac, Hammerle, Bonduel, Trouillet, Saic-Velcorex and Frohlich & Wolff.    

Some fourteen years ago I decided to put some of the hottest color combinations in a book: ‘TRENDS & COLORS’ were born. Right now this COLOR FORECASTING BOX is being sold in over 14 countries to the most prestigious textile and apparel companies in the world.

Some 12 years ago I started working on a large development project in Calcutta: Jute-from-India. Product development of new fabrics out of jute fibers and yarns, to create as many jobs as possible for the jute spinners and weavers of West Bengal. Improving the quality of life for the jute farmers and shippers along the process.